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An enhanced index for evaluating natural joint roughness considering multiple morphological factors affecting the shear behavior

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Abstract

Accurate description of joint morphology is a key issue for understanding natural joint’s shear behavior and estimating its shear strength. Five sets of joint specimens with different morphological characteristics are shearing tested under different normal loads. These test results reveal that three factors, i.e., inclination angle, asperity height, and morphology of the joint back slope along the shear direction, significantly affect shear behavior. Considering the affecting mechanism of these three factors on joint’s shear behavior, a new index, named shear roughness coefficient (SRC), is proposed to accurately estimate the shear strength of rock joints. With the help of this new index, the classical JRC-JCS shear strength model can be extended from 2D to 3D surface of natural joint, which can improve estimation accuracy and reflect the shearing direction effect on joint’s shear strength.

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Abbreviations

\( {\theta}_i^{\ast } \) :

Apparent dip angle (°)

∆V ij :

Damage volume of the no. (i, j) triangular prisms (mm3)

\( {A}_{\theta^{\ast }} \) :

Contact area ratio

C :

Roughness parameter

n i :

Outward normal vector of the triangle unit

n o :

Outward normal vector of the shear plane

θ i :

Dip angle between the shear plane and the triangle (°)

A i :

The ith asperity on the joint surface

K H :

Distribution characteristic parameter of joint height

V ij :

Volume of the triangular prism (mm3)

σ c :

Uniaxial compressive strength (MPa)

JCS:

Joint wall compressive strength (MPa)

τ p, mea :

Measured τp value

JRC :

Joint roughness coefficient

JRC 0 :

JRC value on the standard scale

\( \overline{\delta_{\tau }} \) :

Average estimation errors of shear strengths

\( {\theta}_{\mathrm{max}}^{\ast } \) :

Maximum apparent dip angle (°)

V max :

Total volume (mm3)

V Ratio :

Volume ratio

s :

Shear vector

n io :

Projection vector of ni

α i :

Dip angle between ni and s (°)

θ Contact :

Contact coefficient

H Median :

Median value of joint height

\( \overline{h} \) :

Average height (mm)

ϕ b :

Basic friction angle (°)

σ n :

Normal stress (MPa)

τ p :

Peak shear strength

τ p, cal :

Calculated τp value

JRC n :

JRC value on the real scale

SRC :

Shear roughness coefficient

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Funding

This work is financially supported by the National Natural Science Foundation of China (No. 51779251), Hubei Province Outstanding Youth Fund (No. 2017CFA060), and Scholarship for Visiting Scholars Program of Key Laboratory of Geomechanics and Geotechnical Engineering, Institute of Rock and Soil Mechanics, CAS (No. Z017007005).

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. State Key Laboratory of Geomechanics and Geotechnical Engineering, Institute of Rock and soil Mechanics, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Wuhan, 430071, Hubei, China

    Leibo Song, Quan Jiang, Li-fu Li, Chang Liu & Xiao-pei Liu

  2. Department of Civil Engineering, Shaoxing University, Shaoxing, 312000, Zhejiang, China

    Leibo Song

  3. Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering, University of Alberta, Edmonton, T6G 2W2, Canada

    Jun Xiong

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  1. Leibo Song
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  2. Quan Jiang
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  3. Li-fu Li
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  4. Chang Liu
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  5. Xiao-pei Liu
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Correspondence to Quan Jiang.

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Song, L., Jiang, Q., Li, Lf. et al. An enhanced index for evaluating natural joint roughness considering multiple morphological factors affecting the shear behavior. Bull Eng Geol Environ 79, 2037–2057 (2020). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10064-019-01700-1

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